ITeam Report: What drove Sandi Jackson to resign?

January 11, 2013 (CHICAGO) -- In this ITeam Report: What drove Sandi Jackson to resign Friday? And what's next for the self-proclaimed "first lady" of the 2nd Congressional District?

• STORY: Sandi Jackson resigns from Chicago City Council
• DOWNLOAD: Sandi Jackson's resignation letter to Mayor Emanuel (pdf)
• TIMELINE: Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Leave of Absence / Resignation

With both of the Jacksons now having resigned from their elected positions, is the one-time power couple facing double-trouble from a federal investigation of campaign fund spending?

When Mr. Jackson resigned from Congress just before Thanksgiving, he admitted having made his "share of mistakes." Such an admission of wrongdoing was not in Mrs. Jackson's resignation letter.

They were the tag-team of Chicago politics. Now, they are both are out of the ring, but far from being out of trouble.

A federal investigation into how the Jacksons spent some of Mr. Jackson's federal campaign funds is in its final stages. The investigation is being run out of Washington because it focuses on allegations that the couple illegally diverted campaign money to home furnishings and other personal purchases.

Mr. Jackson's attorneys have said they are in plea bargain discussions with federal prosecutors, but Mrs. Jackson's legal exposure is unclear.

Sandi Jackson's resignation Friday marks a tremendous fall from the glory days of just a few years ago, when she was a celebrity-politician with one of the city's most prominent last names.

In a 2007 tour of their South Side home, Alderman Jackson showed ABC7's Cheryl Burton the couple's personal side, from her bank of TVs that feed a voracious news habit, to his collection of action figures.

Now, the couple's political run is over.

Sandi Jackson's stated reason for her resignation is her husband's health, the need to tend to her family, and the representation that 7th Ward constituents deserve and she can't deliver under the circumstances.

Perhaps the most significant in her decision is what went unsaid: she resigned without a mention of the federal hammer that appears ready to pound at least one person named Jackson.

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iteam, chuck goudie

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